Sculpted Romance
by googlygummybear
Summary: Midori, an everyday cop from Republic City and a good friend of Avatar Korra, travels to Zaofu with Chief Beifong in an attempt to bring Korra back to Republic City. But while in the city of metalbenders, she meets a certain sculptor who catches her eyes.


I smiled to myself as I took in the sights of Zaofu, it was a beautiful city and it did feel good being surrounded by metal. The only think that dampened my mood was Lin walking next to me, her facial expression looking even more grumpy than usual.

Su was up front talking with Korra as she showed us around her own house. She stopped when we came up to a large rectangular pit in the ground. Pillars shot up randomly, and two teenage boys stood on either side, bending a metal disk back and forth.

"Those are my two youngest, Wei and Wing." Su said gesturing to the two boys. "They're playing a game called Power Disc. They invented it all on their own."

Below Wing shot the disc toward Wei, causing multiple loud clangs as it came in contact with the pillars. Wei fired the disc back towards his brother who attempted to catch it. He failed and fell to the ground; the disc flew into the net behind him, setting off a buzzer.

"Oh, nice power Wei." Su praised. Wei was cheering for himself as Wing pushed himself to his feet. "I'm so proud of those two."

We continued the tour, not stopping until we reached a large empty courtyard, well, not so empty. The courtyard was full of beautiful metal sculptures, some small while others towered high above our heads. I gazed in awe at how gorgeous they were. I'm sure the others didn't quite grasp it, but since I had grown up with a sculptor as a father, I knew a lot about what a sculpture good or bad.

"Huan," I shook my head, returning to Earth. I noticed Su talking to a boy I had yet to notice. He was metalbending a sculpture, moving a piece of metal to a different angle before stepping back to inspect it. "I'd like you to meet the Avatar and her friends. And your Aunt Lin."

"Nice to meet you." Korra offered, though it seemed Huan wasn't up to having a conversation at the moment.

"Hey." He stated, still inspecting the sculpture.

"Wow, that's a really nice," Bolin cocked his head to the side, looking at the sculpture with a clearly confused look on his face. "Banana? Yes, very, very lifelike."

I rolled my eyes and flicked the earthbender in the forehead. He yelped in pain and rubbed his palm over the affected area. "What was that for?"

"It's not a banana, and if you knew anything about art, you'd know that." I stated, viewing the sculpture. I wasn't sure of what the sculpture was supposed to be myself, but I knew it had a deeper meaning and that's why it didn't really look like anything in general.

I glanced at Huan and saw as he gave me a small smile. "It was inspired by Harmonic Convergence; it represents the dawning of a new age. Obviously."

I tilted my head a bit, seeing exactly what he was talking about. Beside me Bolin began babbling about how he could see it after it was explained. He held up his fingers, creating a frame and nodded enthusiastically. I shook my head at his how stupid he was. Su finally began moving again and I heard Bolin mumble something about how it had to be a banana.

I stayed in place, watching Huan as he began to bend the sculpture again, changing the design a bit. "Midori, are you coming?" I heard Asami asked.

I shook my head, giving a smile. "I'm going to stay here." She gave me a knowing look but turned around and joined the rest of the group again.

Everything was quiet as Su's voice faded gradually, the only noise coming from whenever Huan manipulated the sculpture. At some point I found myself sitting on a small stone bench, observing the metalbender as he kept working.

My eyes locked on him as I admired that way he became so engrossed in his work. I could tell that he wasn't focusing on anything but the sculpture, it made me wish that I had the patience to sculpt, but I never could focus on something for a long period of time.

"Can I help you?" I jumped when I noticed Huan had turned around and was staring at me. I blushed, realizing that he had most definitely caught me staring.

"Um, I-I was just, admiring your sculptures," I said nervously. Usually I never got nervous around people, I mean, I was a cop, I had to be good with people. But for some reason this metalbending sculptor made my ability to talk run away with its tail between its legs.

He raised an eyebrow as if he was debating whether to believe my excuse or not. After what felt like an eternity of him looking at me, he finally turned back. I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding, thanking the Spirits that he hadn't accused me of staring at him, even though that's exactly what I had been doing.

"Do you sculpt?" I jumped again as Huan's voice jarred me from my own thoughts. This boy had made me jump twice in less than two minutes, what was happening to me?

"Excuse me?" I asked, not that I hadn't heard him, but my brain seemed to not interpret what he was actually saying.

"Are you a sculptor?" he asked again. He turned to look at me again, and this time our gazes connected. I noticed that his eyes were a very light green, so light that they almost looked grey.

"Not really," I said. I cleared my throat, which suddenly felt in desperate need of water. "My dad is though, so he's taught me a lot about it."

"I see."

I frowned and crossed my legs on the bench. "I think my dad would be amazed if he was here, these sculptures of yours are pretty impressive."

He shrugged, "not many people seem to think so."

"Well I think so." I gave him a nice smile, but he didn't seem to acknowledge it. "I mean my dad's a professional sculptor and I honestly think these are better. Your parents must be proud."

"Not really." He slowly began walking towards the bench I sat on, causing my heart beat to pick up. Why was he making me so nervous? Huan sat down next to me and looked around the courtyard. "My parents don't really pay attention to this kind of stuff."

I uncrossed my legs and leaned forward on the bench. I turned my head and looked at him, allowing my hair to fall over my shoulder. "What do you mean?"

He sighed and leaned back, allowing his arms to support him. "Don't get me wrong here, I know my parents love me an all, but they never seem to show any interest in what I do. But they obsess over Wei and Wing because they're all big on using their bending for fighting and sports. Then there's my older brother Baatar who engineers all of my dad's projects. And now Opal can airbend, and they're so proud of her."

"Aren't you proud?"

"Of course I am, I mean she's my little sister. I just wish that my parents would take an interest in what I like, and act like they're proud of me."

"I get what you mean. It's like you just in the shadow of your sibling. That's how I feel all the time."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I have two older brothers, an older sister and a younger brother and sister. My brothers are both part of the United Forces, and my sister is following after my dad and becoming a sculptor. An my mom teaches martial arts, which my younger sibling have taken an interest in, so I'm sort of in all of their shadows, even when two of those shadows aren't even taller than me."

He chuckled, making my stomach flip. "You're traveling the world with the Avatar, aren't they proud of that?"

"I'm not actually traveling with her. Korra and I are great friends, but I had to stay in Republic City. I'm only here because I'm a cop and Lin thought that me coming along with her would help convince Korra to come back with us."

"Your parents are proud that you're a cop?"

I shrugged. They never did seem to care about my position on the police force. Dad was always focused on my sister, mom was focused on the younger ones and my brothers were both gone, but they still seemed to fuss more over them than me. "If they do they don't show it."

"Midori!" Huan and I both jumped at hearing Lin yelling. I jumped up on instinct, standing up straight.

"Yes chief," I said, my voice becoming hard as I switched into work mode.

"It looks like we're staying for a while." She informed, completely ignoring her nephew who was still seated on the bench. "I need you to inform every officer in this city that I want all point of entry covered. I don't want anyone getting in that's not supposed to."

I gave her a curt nod. "Yes ma'am."

She nodded and left, not even acknowledging Huan. I loosened up and glanced down at Huan, he had a hand over his mouth, and it seemed like he was trying to cover a smile.

"The way you sounded just now," he managed to get out, still trying to stifle his laughter.

I rolled my eyes, "be quiet. I'll you later," I said. He nodded and turned to go and complete my task. And to try and get rid of the butterflies that kept flying around in my stomach.

* * *

><p>"Tonight, for you dining pleasure, I present a seared wild Kyoshi elephant koi, paired with a ginger-infused pea tendril and hibiscus root salad." The chef announced. The plates were set down in front of us and my mouth began to water at the sight of such delicious food.<p>

The chef bowed and left, bowing to another man in the hallway. "Sorry dear, I'm going to have to take dinner in my office. I just had a major breakthrough on the tram station remodel."

"Well, don't let me stand in the way of inspiration." Su said, smiling at the older man.

"You're the best." The older man ran off quickly, not wasting another second.

"That was my brilliants architect of a husband, Baatar, and our oldest son. He engineers all my husband's projects." Su explained.

I tuned out the rest of the conversation after hearing Lin comment on how having five children was a nightmare. She hadn't met my family of seven children yet, she didn't know what a night mare was. I took a small bite of the salad and almost dropped my fork.

"Can I take your chef back to Republic City with me?" I whispered to Huan who sat next to me.

He chuckled quietly. "I'm guessing you like it?"

"I love it. Usually I don't get fresh home cooked meals because of my work schedule, so I end up getting take out."

"Well here, you always have a fresh meal waiting."

"Then I'd like to come live here, because this is bliss." I brought another fork-full of salad to my mouth and this time I actually dropped my fork. Not because of how good it was, but because of…

"Varrick!" Bolin yelled, smiling at the man and his assistant.

"Not Varrick," I groaned, resting my cheek on my palm as I lazily watched him take a seat on the other side of the table.

"Are you not a fan?"

I moved my gaze to see Huan smirking at me. "How'd you guess?"

"I've seen the future, and the future is," Varrick paused for dramatic effect. "Magnets! I'm working on a high speed rail that will revolutionize transportation and shipping as we know it. But that's not all, I'm-"

"Alright enough!" Lin snapped, standing up. "I'm trying to keep the Avatar safe and you're harboring a criminal?"

"Ease up Lin. Sure Varrick's made a few mistakes in his past, but that doesn't mean he should pay for it for the rest of his life. My chef was a pirate, but now he's a culinary master. People change." Su said calmly.

"You haven't" Lin yelled to her sister. She pushed her chair, letting it fall to the floor and stalked towards the door.

"Lin!" Korra and I both yelled, standing up.

She didn't listen and walked through the door, using her wires to slam it shut behind her. I slowly lowered myself down in my chair, sighing as I rested my forehead in the palms of my hands.

"How do you put up with her Midori?" Korra asked.

I looked up to see almost everyone's eyes on me. I shrugged and leaned back in my chair. "I don't even know."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So many days... so little updates. I haven't posted a new story or an update in so long and I apologize, but I'm back and I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things.**

**P.S. If you guys want to keep up to date then you can go to my website, .com, and from there you can go and like my facebook page.**


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